


To Be Found

by darlingargents



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Conversations, F/M, Imprisonment, Love Confessions, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-02 17:31:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12731115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingargents/pseuds/darlingargents
Summary: When Anakin and Obi-Wan are caught during a battle and imprisoned alone for weeks, it leads to some revelations. From Coruscant, Padmé, with the help of Ahsoka, is tracking them down -- and coming to some realizations of her own.





	To Be Found

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sweven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweven/gifts).



_Anakin_

Anakin wasn’t sure what was going on.

The battle was just like any other. A nameless planet. Innumerable droids being mowed down by the clones and their generals. A Seppie general showing up was irritating, but not unprecedented, and didn’t really change much. They had also been captured before. None of this should have been new territory, or unfamiliar, or strange.

But it had been two weeks and no one had rescued them, and they hadn’t managed to escape. _That_ was strange.

The battle had gone well, for the most part; the droid army had been wiped out, and Anakin and Obi-Wan had ordered the clones to retreat back to a nearby base, since there were injured men, and the Republic couldn’t afford to buy enough clones to replace the ones they lost anymore. Anakin privately thought that this might mean that the war was coming to a close. It seemed as though, even as they fought and died as usual, an undercurrent of desperation was there, on both sides. It was as if, somehow, through all the battles and bloodshed, they were all holding their breaths; waiting, for _something_.

The men had retreated with their Star Destroyer, leaving just Anakin’s ship. He and Obi-Wan had planned on hunting down the Seppie general and bringing him back as a prisoner. But somehow they’d underestimated how dangerous this general really was, and how many backup assassin droids were hiding in that command room. They’d been knocked out, transported, and locked up in a room with Force dampeners that completely locked down their powers.

It had been two weeks now. The cell was actually quite nice, with two beds and a separate refresher with a sonic shower. It was cleaner than half the cells in the Republic too, but even so, Anakin was bouncing off the walls, and so was Obi-Wan. His former master was still valiantly attempting to meditate, but his temper was worn thin. Anakin could tell.

The oddest thing was, no one had come for them. Not even Dooku to gloat at them, or any other Seppie general to “interrogate” them. They had their meals delivered through a slot in the wall on a regular basis, but that was the only interaction they had with the outside world. It was as if they’d been forgotten.

They’d been trapped together before. It wasn’t new.

But they’d usually escaped within a few hours.

Anakin was not happy about being trapped in a room with the man he was slowly realizing that he loved.

* * *

_Obi-Wan_

The walls were getting closer. Obi-Wan was sure of it.

He kept his eyes tightly closed. The meditation he’d been attempting was pointless, certainly, but he thought it might be a good idea to keep trying. If only to say that he had.

Jedi, he mused, were not quite made for forced inaction. Many of his generation in particular tended towards hot-headed recklessness and found thrill in adventure. Something in them — or maybe just the Force — had known they’d go through wartime, and they were well-suited for it, in a way that many other generations of Jedi had not been.

Yes, he was not made for sitting around and waiting to be rescued, and being at peace with his own lack of ability to escape. No Jedi was, despite what their Code said.

He sighed, opening his eyes. He was back to the obsessing over the Code. This had been distracting him throughout his confinement. This meditation wasn’t going to happen.

Anakin was lying on the floor, counting cracks in the ceiling tiles again. He had stripped down to an undershirt, revealing the intricacies of his mechanical arm and the muscles moving in the other one as he tapped out the numbers. Something in Obi-Wan’s throat tightened at the sight. It was a familiar feeling, but not one he was happy with.

Falling in love with his former padawan would be a terrible idea at the best of times. Right now was borderline disastrous.

* * *

_Padmé_

“Has there really been no news?” Padmé asked.

Ahsoka sighed, and looked down.

“Senator… no one has heard anything. I’m sorry. I’m still looking, but they can’t dedicate anyone else; we’re fighting on too many fronts to waste resources. The council is assuming they’re dead.”

“But they aren’t.” Padmé would not accept that.

“I don’t think so. But I don’t know. It’s frustrating, but I’m trying my best. I’ll track them down.”

Despite her less-than-optimistic words, Ahsoka looked determined. That, Padmé supposed, was the best she could hope for.

“Thank you, Ahsoka.”

“Of course, Senator.” She inclined her head politely before hanging up the holocall. Padmé put away her projector, and glanced around her office.

Stacks of work documents cluttered her desk, dozens of failed attempts to slow or stop the war somehow. A blanket was draped over her couch — she’d barely left her desk to sleep, and hadn’t allowed herself the luxury of making the trip to her apartment for something so minor. She hadn’t even been there in almost a week.

She should have gotten Threepio to clean up the room, if only for meetings, but she’d had him working with Ahsoka to find Anakin and Obi-Wan — helping them at every spare moment she had. It would have felt like indulgence, having a droid cleaning up after her when he could be helping to find her husband and her… friend.

She groaned, running a hand down her face. Of all the times they had to disappear together… it had to happen when she was slowly realizing her feelings for Obi-Wan.

* * *

_Anakin_

Another day almost over.

Anakin lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling of the cell. If he had been keeping track of time correctly, the embedded lights would dim soon, for the eight-hour sleep period. The fingers of his metal hand were tapping against the durasteel bed frame, the clicking probably loud and irritating, but he needed to _do_ something.

He needed to distract himself. Because he couldn’t stop thinking about Obi-Wan. About the little things that made him who he was.

The tiny smirk that he only made when his opponent had underestimated him and he was about to move in for the kill. The strength in his body and the Force when he fought. The kind and caring side of him that came out when he was helping civilians. The fact that he was on the other bed, so close that they could touch if they both reached out an arm.

He so desperately wanted to reach out.

Anakin was in love. He knew this now. He had only felt this way before with Padmé.

His stomach clenched at the thought of her. She had to be terrified. Her, Ahsoka, Threepio, Artoo… he wasn’t sure where Artoo was, actually, since he’d been with them when they got captured, but he hoped that the droid hadn’t been disassembled.

Not to mention, he didn’t know what Padmé would think of this… development. Anakin knew that on Naboo, open relationships were common, but that didn’t mean that Padmé herself was alright with them. They’d never had much of a chance to talk about those kinds of expectations in their relationships.

Even thinking that felt presumptuous. He had no reason to believe Obi-Wan returned his feelings, or ever would.

Anakin sighed and threw his metal arm over his eyes. The lights finally dimmed. A few minutes later, sleep stole him away.

* * *

_Obi-Wan_

Anakin had fallen asleep fairly quickly, and Obi-Wan had ample opportunity to watch him. It felt wrong, but he couldn’t make himself feel bad about it; Anakin’s face was so peaceful like this. The tension was gone, the lines of stress and worry smoothed by unconsciousness. His metal arm had been resting over his face when he’d fallen asleep, but it had dropped down to his chest, and in the dim, barely-there light of the dimmed nighttime mode of the cell, he could see the fingers twitching, just a little. Anakin’s eyes moved under the lids.

He was dreaming.

Obi-Wan wondered what he was dreaming about.

He wanted to find out, to reach out and touch Anakin, to find out everything he didn’t know about him. To press him down into the mattress with his body, to kiss him and find out exactly what it felt like.

Guilt churned in his stomach at the thoughts, and the feelings of warmth that rose from them. Any happiness he might have gotten from watching Anakin sleep was gone. He rolled over to face the wall. It would be a long time before sleep would take him.

* * *

_Padmé_

“We may have a lead.”

Padmé tried not to let her sudden burst of hope show on her face. “What kind of a lead?”

“A solid one, if it pans out. A location.” Ahsoka looked almost excited, an expression Padmé hadn’t seen on her since this ordeal had begun. “We’ve intercepted some Seppie transmissions. It’s been very helpful for other things, but in the raw data, we found some strange statistics coming from this one ship. It started roaming empty star systems seemingly at random after stopping at the planet Anakin and Obi-Wan were last stationed at. It stops for food weekly, but is staffed only by droids. It’s on total lockdown, no sentient contact for just over two weeks… the same time it stopped at that same planet.”

Padmé’s heart was in her throat. “Since they disappeared.”

“Exactly. Of course, it’s a ship, not a planet, so we need to pin down its location. But… it’s pretty likely at this point that we’ll get it.” Ahsoka grinned, her eyes tired but bright, ready to take on a challenge. Ready to find her master.

“Thank you,” said Padmé. “Truly.”

“Don’t thank me, Senator. We haven’t found them yet,” she said, her tone holding nothing but good humour. “I was also wondering, if we can find out where they are, and there’s an extraction mission in the works… would you like to come?”

Padmé grinned. “I’m sure I can fit it in my busy schedule.” Probably not, but for Anakin and Obi-Wan, she could make room. From Ahsoka’s wide answering smile, she thought she wasn’t doing a very  good job of hiding her excitement. But that was okay.

Real hope. She’d almost forgotten what that felt like.

* * *

_Anakin_

The power shut down in the middle of the next day.

It was abrupt. One moment, Anakin was trying to work out a faulty joint in his metal arm, and the next, the room was utterly black. Dim emergency lights came to life a moment later, filling the room with a soft red light that unnerved Anakin almost more than pure darkness would have.

Obi-Wan stood up, staring at the door. Anakin followed a moment later. He could hear his heartbeat thundering in his ears.

Anakin usually wasn’t afraid. He had faith in his skills, and his ability to improvise and adapt to the situation. And with Obi-Wan by his side, he often found himself thinking they were invincible. But without their lightsabers or the ability to use the Force? They would have very little to work with. It would likely be a very short fight.

The door wasn’t opening. Obi-Wan turned to look at Anakin. In the darkness, Anakin couldn’t see his expression very well, and without the Force, he couldn’t even get a vague idea of how his friend… yes, his _friend_ , was feeling. It was a curiously distressing feeling.

“Either they got tired of us, and are letting us die in here,” Obi-Wan said, his voice perfectly even and emotionless, “or our ship is under attack.” His voice sounded strange in the dark, completely silent cell. Neither of them had spoken much during their confinement.

“Hopefully it’s the second one.” Anakin said, finding that his voice was rough from disuse.

Obi-Wan’s expression seemed to tighten a little, barely visible in the dark. “You are assuming that whoever is attacking is our ally.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” And, Anakin thought, it was pretty likely they’d be able to fight their way out of the situation if the attackers really were hostile to them. The Force-block probably didn’t go past the door; they’d be free almost as soon as it opened. And their attackers probably wouldn’t know they were Jedi, or that the door was keeping them contained.

“Pirates would either kill us or kidnap us and sell us for parts, Anakin,” Obi-Wan pointed out.

“Only if they catch us.”

Obi-Wan shrugged, conceding the point. “I suppose.” He sat down on his bed. “Time to wait.”

* * *

_Obi-Wan_

The dark made it harder.

The emergency lights lit the room even less than the nighttime ship mode, and in the darkness, Obi-Wan could sense Anakin in a million different ways. He heard the shuffle of Anakin’s body on the bed across from his and his even breathing, smelled the faint scents of clean sweat and the oil he used to clean his metal arm, saw the outline of his face under the red lights, the glint of the lights off his metal arm.

It had been almost an hour and a half since the lights went out. Worry gnawed at Obi-Wan. One of the things he was most afraid of was not knowing his situation, and he knew basically nothing right now. He had no way of knowing whether the silence and darkness would be ended by a triumphant rescue or a fight or a slow, painful death of thirst if they were just left alone to die. Or maybe a fast, painful death of oxygen deprivation if the life support systems were turned off.

They might be minutes away from death. So maybe it was the moment for truth.

Normally he wouldn’t do this. Normally he would never say this to anyone, let alone Anakin, who he was pretty sure was in a relationship already — his interactions with Padmé were hardly subtle. But he’d been locked in this kriffing cell for weeks. He was terrified and worn down, and he’d had too much time to reflect. Maybe his past habit of repressing his emotions and never putting words to them had not helped anyone. Maybe it had hurt him, and his friends too. All through his life, he’d kept quiet. Kept to the Code.

Well, the Code may have helped cause this war. He wasn’t going to go to his grave without speaking his feelings because of it.

“Anakin.” Anakin didn’t move from where he lay, staring up at the ceiling. “Anakin,” he repeated, with more force. Anakin finally turned his head to look at Obi-Wan.

“What?”

“I think that this may be a good time to speak honestly with each other. As we may die soon, or less soon, but be unable to discuss anything clearly before long.”

Anakin sat up, facing Obi-Wan. “All right, I’m all ears.”

Obi-Wan’s throat was dry. His palms itched. His stomach churned with anxiety. Telling Anakin was seeming like less and less like a good idea.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was many things. He was not, however, a coward.

“I am in love with you.”

* * *

_Padmé_

The mission took a surprisingly short amount of time. Barely two hours after Ahsoka received the coordinates they needed, she and Padmé were in an abandoned star system, watching the massive cargo ship that contained Anakin and Obi-Wan float aimlessly.

Ahsoka had come up with a plan for infiltration upon finding out the type of ship, and Padmé just followed her through the fairly simple process. They dropped through the shield through which ships usually entered, and started to take their space suits off, which they’d worn to get from Ahsoka’s ship to this one.

Padmé got her suit off first, and as Ahsoka wrestled with hers, she looked around. The ship seemed empty. Abandoned. Until two battle droids turned the corner and stopped short, staring at them.

One arm still in her suit, Ahsoka barely managed to deflect the volley of blaster bolts the droids fired at her. Padmé pulled out her blaster and fired twice. The droids fell dead to the ground, and she smiled a little.

They always focused on the Jedi.

Ahsoka gestured for Padmé to follow her, and they made their way through the corridors of the ship. It was massive — nearly the size of a Star Destroyer, Padmé thought — and confusing. The twisting corridors all seemingly identical.

“We’re looking for an elevator,” Ahsoka reminded Padmé.

Padmé nodded as they turned yet another corner. Where _was_ an elevator? This ship seemed to be designed poorly. Maybe that was why it was being used as a holding cell for Jedi instead of in battle.

****Padmé glanced over her shoulder. Far down the corridor behind her she saw a large doorway that seemed to lead to a storage area. That wasn’t very helpful. It was unlikely to have anything they needed. Padmé began to turn around when she noticed that something seemed to be moving in the darkness of the entrance to the storage area. She squinted hard at it, then shook her head. She had probably just imagined it.

“Droids!” Ahsoka said suddenly, causing Padmé to spin quickly around and look back in front of her just in time to see an entire squad of battle droids approaching. Padmé raised her blaster as Ahsoka raised her lightsabers, and began to fire. The squad fired back. They had clearly been ready for them. Padmé supposed they had probably been spotted on security cameras.

Ahsoka deflected as many blaster bolts as she could, but they were coming fast. Padmé got off five shots. Three connected, the droids dropping to the floor sparking and dead. Before she could keep firing, Ahsoka missed deflecting a shot and it went past Padmé’s face so close she could feel the burning heat. Another one came immediately after and knocked the blaster out of her hand. Kriff. Well, at least she had a backup—

As she reached down to feel around her belt for her spare, Ahsoka glanced back at her, and her eyes widened. “Padmé! Look out—”

Something jabbed into her back. Hard. And then the spot seemed to light on fire. Padmé smelled burning flesh, heard the crackle of electricity, and managed to look up to see the assassin droid squad standing behind her before the pain overwhelmed her and everything went black.

* * *

_Anakin_

Anakin was fairly sure he was dreaming.

Because this obviously wasn’t real. If he just closed his eyes, he’d open them again and he’d be back on Coruscant. Or maybe even still in this cell, waiting in silence with Obi-Wan, neither of them having spoken a word to each other.

_I am in love with you._

It wasn’t possible.

Anakin closed his eyes and opened them. He still saw Obi-Wan sitting across from him, hands clenched into fists and radiating anxiety.

Well, kriff.

“I…”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Obi-Wan said. “I just needed to say it.”

_Padmé_ , Anakin thought. _Think of her_. But all he could think of was pulling Obi-Wan closer and kissing him breathless. He closed his eyes tight and tried to clear his head.

He wasn’t going to start ripping Obi-Wan’s clothes off right this second. But there was no harm in telling him that his feelings were requited.

“I’ve been realizing—” he began, and at that moment the door burst open, and the Force-dampener’s hold broke in an instant. It was like everything suddenly became a million times clearer and brighter, and Anakin saw Obi-Wan sitting up straighter and guessed that he felt the same.

“Finally,” said Ahsoka’s voice from outside the cell door. “I’ve been kicking in cell doors for the last hour. We need to hurry. They have Senator Amidala.”

In an instant, Anakin banished all thoughts of Obi-Wan from his mind. His wife was in danger, and he was ready to kill whatever or whoever was responsible. He stood up, and took the spare lightsaber Ahsoka handed him.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

_Obi-Wan_

Ahsoka’s timing had, of course, been impeccable. He silently grit his teeth as they jogged through the halls.

He needed to know what Anakin had been about to say. But this wasn’t the time. The woman Anakin loved was in danger

Ahsoka filled them in on what had happened as they hurried through the ship.

Apparently, the droids who had kidnapped Padmé had split off from the group attacking Ahsoka, and by the time Ahsoka had killed all the droids around her, Padmé was long gone. Ahsoka had been searching the ship for either Anakin and Obi-Wan or Padmé and had found herself in an engine room that held another squad of droids. A missed swing of her lightsaber had cut the power. She’d managed to kill all the droids and find the right level of the ship, but in the endless corridors, it had taken her ages to find the right cell. None of the others had been occupied.

“It’s odd,” she said. “I’m not sure why they decided to just keep the two of you here, there’s easily enough space for thousands of other prisoners. But it made my job a little easier.”

Once they got back up to the main floor, they joined hands and used the Force to mentally search for Padmé, drawing on each other’s strength. Anakin was the first to establish a direction, and they followed him through the twisting corridors of the ship as he ran almost full-speed.

Obi-Wan’s heart was in his throat. And still felt wrung-out and on the verge of a strong burst of emotion. He was fully focused on finding Padmé, of course he was, but right now they were just running, and his brain couldn’t stop going back to Anakin’s words.

_I’ve been realizing_... What had he been realizing?

He knew what he wanted the answer to be. But building hope where there was none was a bad idea.

And he mentally shook himself. No, the ideal answer would be a gentle but firm rebuttal. Mindless sex would be one thing. But this was a lot more dangerous. And not allowed.

“She’s close,” Anakin said, pausing at a spot where the corridor branched into three and choosing the far left path with barely any hesitation.

As they drew closer, Obi-Wan saw that Anakin was right. There were slight differences here; it was slightly bigger, the floor was slightly dirtier, the doors a little more worn out. This area was in regular use.

Just as he came to that conclusion, he heard the sound of clanking battle droid feet against the ground. A squadron.

They activated their lightsabers at almost the same time. Obi-Wan grimaced at the unfamiliar feel of the spare he’d been given, and adjusted his grip. He would manage.

The squadron turned the corner. Thirty seconds later, they were a pile of smoking scrap metal on the ground.

“We must be close if they’re patrolling,” Ahsoka said, but Anakin had already run ahead and turned down the corridor from which the droids had come. Obi-Wan followed, Ahsoka right behind him, and they turned just in time to see Anakin sticking his saber into a droid standing watch outside a cell door.

Inside, behind a ray shield, was Padmé.

Anakin pulled his saber out of the droid, and as it clattered to the ground, he hit the button beside the cell door, dropping the ray shield. Padmé ran out of the cell and into his arms, and he hugged her tightly to his chest, burying his face in her hair.

The small part of Obi-Wan’s brain not distracted by the sinking feeling in his gut at watching the two of them together noted the differences in Padmé’s cell and theirs; it was smaller, with only a bench to sit on, and it was ray-shielded instead of having a real door. It was not made to hold a Force-user, or anyone, for longer than a few hours. He thought this whole area of cells might be more for intruders before they were executed on the captain’s orders, as opposed to political prisoners who would likely stay for a while.

But most of his brain was still stuck on the misery he felt watching Anakin hold someone else like that.

Anakin and Padmé broke apart a moment later, and Padmé walked over to them. She hugged Ahsoka quickly, and then turned to Obi-Wan. He braced himself for anger, or hatred, or even jealousy. But he felt nothing but relief as she wrapped her arms around him.

He returned the hug mostly on instinct, trying to puzzle out his emotions. Logically, he should feel some ill will towards her; she was with the man he loved. Jealousy would be natural. But he felt nothing like that as he pulled away from her and smiled reassuringly, as if she was the one who had been kidnapped for weeks and not him.

She smiled back, a little weakly. “Are you alright?” she asked.

“Fine,” said Obi-Wan. “Let’s get out of here, shall we?”

Everyone was in agreement, so they began walking. Padmé and Anakin led the way, and they walked close together, but no longer touching. Obi-Wan struggled to identify the emotion rising in him as they walked side by side, fingers brushing.

He didn’t feel jealous. Not exactly. He felt something warmer than that. Kinder.

They seemed to be tired of hiding. Anakin took her hand, their fingers entwining as they walked. Ahsoka pretending she wasn’t looking. Obi-Wan just stared at their linked fingers.

Wanting.

He wanted that. From both of them.

He could have slapped himself.

Of course. Of course this had to happen. His luck just never seemed to run out.

* * *

_Padmé_

Padmé felt almost guilty as they stole a ship, linking it onto Ahsoka’s ship and then letting it drift away as they took off. Not about the stolen ship. About Anakin.

He’d held her so tightly when she got out of the cell that she could feel his heartbeat. His metal arm had almost hurt where it held her close. She’d missed him so much, and he’d clearly missed her too.

But when she’d hugged Obi-Wan, she’d almost hoped he’d hold her the same way.

It was ridiculous, it was traitorous, it was an awful thing for a wife to do to her spouse. But she couldn’t change her feelings.

She was falling for Obi-Wan, too.

Maybe the guilt would have doubled or tripled, maybe it would have eaten her alive and destroyed her marriage, if not for the moment that changed everything.

She and Anakin were sitting at the back of the ship on the floor — this ship wasn’t big enough to have extra space — and Anakin was trying to turn Artoo back on. They’d found him in a cell near hers, powered off and shoved against the wall, along with their lightsabers, casually discarded. He hadn’t been severely damaged, but being turned off for two weeks might have had some bad side effects, and Anakin was trying to mitigate the damage. She knew because he was keeping a running narration of everything he was doing and why.

It was a nervous habit of his. She would have thought it was just from the trauma of being kidnapped, if not for how he kept glancing at Obi-Wan, where he sat in the co-pilot’s seat next to Ahsoka. Every time he did, he would glance away, trail off, blush a little, and then go back to his narration. He was so distracted that he kept repeating the last few things he’d mentioned.

It was odd behaviour, certainly, and her mind was slowly but steadily working towards a conclusion. Obi-Wan let out a sigh and stretched, reaching his arms up towards the ceiling. Anakin stopped talking abruptly and went bright red. His eyes followed the line of Obi-Wan’s body and his mouth snapped shut as if he were making a conscious effort not to leave it hanging open in awe.

_Oh_ , Padmé thought. _Oh_.

She reached down and grabbed Anakin’s wrist. He looked back at her, going even redder. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were still oblivious. Padmé glanced back at them to be completely sure they weren’t paying attention, and then leaned in.

“You love him,” she whispered under her breath.

All the embarrassment seemed to drain out of Anakin, replaced by guilt and sadness. “Padmé, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, I won’t do anything—”

“It’s fine,” Padmé said. “I… I think I’m falling for him, too.”

Just saying it out loud felt like a massive weight had been lifted off her chest. Anakin’s face brightened immediately. “Wait, really?”

“I realized it just before you two disappeared. Not the best timing on anyone’s part, I must say.”

“That was when I realized, too.” Anakin was fulling smiling now. “Are you… are you okay with this, though?”

“We can talk more when we get back,” she said. Anakin nodded.

As he went back to work on Artoo, she watched, and smiled a little.

Maybe this really would work out okay.

* * *

_Anakin_

A full day passed before Anakin saw Padmé again.

As soon as they landed on Coruscant, Anakin and Obi-Wan were hurried off to the medical lab, where they were tested in dozens of ways to make sure they hadn’t been infected with anything or surgically altered somehow during their captivity. By the time it was over, it was late at night on Coruscant’s cycle, so they were put under bed rest to adapt back to Coruscant time. The next morning they were taken to stand before the Jedi Council and tell the story of what happened, multiple times. After that, Anakin was so tired he could barely stand. He’d tried to keep up some level of fitness in the cell, but some endurance had been lost, apparently. He made his way over to Padmé’s apartment anyway. She wasn’t home from work yet, so he just fell asleep in her bed without waiting.

It was morning when he woke up, and Padmé was next to him. He rolled over and wrapped an arm around her, barely awake, until he remembered their last conversation on the ship and a feeling somewhere between excitement and terror filled him. He wasn’t tired anymore.

Anakin sat up in bed and checked his comm. No new messages; for now, he was on break. Somewhat. It wouldn’t last long — the war was never quiet enough to keep one of the best Jedi in the Order on the bench for more than a few days. He may have been imprisoned for weeks, but they’d lost too many soldiers to give him much time to recover — but for now, he was free.

And so was Obi-Wan.

When Padmé got up an hour later, she wandered into the kitchen to find Anakin silently nursing a mug of caf and staring out the window at Coruscant’s skyline. She blinked tiredly at him, and Anakin handed her another steaming mug.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Morning,” she said, taking a sip, looking at him a little warily. “You look… awake.”

“Remember what we talked about on the ship?” he asked.

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, and some of Anakin’s worry — the fear that she would refuse to talk about it or pretend it never happened — dissipated. “Yes.” She took another sip of her caf and gestured for Anakin to speak.

“So you’re… you’re falling for him, too?” he said.

“I believe so. Do you think that he would be… interested in a relationship? With both of us? I mean, are _you_?”

Anakin’s heart jumped in his chest. “I… I think so. You are?”

Padmé shrugged. “I don’t want to get my hopes up. But… yes, if it’s possible. What about him, though?”

Anakin considered her question. Obi-Wan wasn’t exactly celibate — like much of the Jedi Order, he had occasional one-night stands or no-strings-attached relationships with other Jedi. Anakin only knew this because he’d accidentally walked in on some of these… liaisons… a few times as a padawan. But even if Obi-Wan was okay with that, it didn’t mean he would be okay with a relationship. Especially considering the fact that it was against the Code.

Sure, Anakin was married to Padmé — Jedi did break the attachment rule on occasion. But Anakin was different from other Jedi. He’d only begun to fully realized how different he was during the war. He’d grown up a slave, with only one person in the world he truly trusted and who always had his best interests in mind. One person who wouldn’t abandon or betray him for freedom or money or power if it came down to it. And when he’d been taken from her, he’d filled the void by latching onto Obi-Wan and the abstract idea of Padmé. Attachment had kept him alive for so long that he hadn’t known how to let go.

Jedi were raised differently. With self-reliance, independence, and responsibility. From childhood, they had caretakers and other younglings to interact with, but they didn’t bond to one person. They were safe, but they were responsible for their own self. In every way.

No, Anakin wasn’t like other Jedi.

But maybe Obi-Wan had spent long enough with him that it would be different. It felt like a long shot at best, but maybe it was something. Because this war had shown that maybe the Jedi philosophy wasn’t perfect. They followed it, and still the death toll rose; still the war raged on and the galaxy spun out of control.

Ahsoka had started questioning the Order, Anakin knew. Others too. Maybe Obi-Wan was one of them.

And he’d told Anakin that he was in love with him. That was important.

“I know he loves me,” he told Padmé, and ignored her noise of surprise and confusion. “But I don’t know how he would feel about a real relationship. So maybe we should talk to him.”

* * *

_Obi-Wan_

It was a sunny, warm morning on Coruscant, and Obi-Wan was enjoying a meditation in the gardens of the Jedi Temple when Anakin finally appeared again. He sensed Anakin’s presence from deep in his mind, and opened his eyes to see Anakin making his way across the garden.

Part of him had been wondering where Anakin was. He’d disappeared the night before, and Obi-Wan had assumed he was with Padmé and that he’d stay with her a full day at least. He imagined that, in such a relationship, they must be inseparable whenever they could find time to be together, especially now after Anakin’s imprisonment.

His thoughts were interrupted when Anakin stopped in front of him. Obi-Wan started; he’d been buried in his thoughts and hadn’t even realized Anakin was heading his direction.

“Hello,” Obi-Wan said. “I thought you’d be tired of seeing me by now.”

“I never get tired of seeing you, master,” Anakin said, and then flushed bright red. “Um. Anyway. Can we talk?”

“Certainly.” Obi-Wan stood, stretching out his back. It had been nice to get in a regular morning meditation, but his health wasn’t where it usually was, after his time imprisoned, and his body wasn’t thanking him for the forced stillness. “What about?”

“Not here.”

Anakin glanced around furtively, and Obi-Wan’s mind raced ahead, putting together his words and his nervousness and his blush and coming up with a conclusion that made his stomach drop. The confession. Anakin wanted to talk about his confession.

He wasn’t sure what to expect, but he was fairly sure this was going to be a difficult conversation.

“All right,” he said. “Where?”

“Follow me.”

They made their way across the Temple gardens and into the nearby garage, where Anakin hopped into a speeder and ignored Obi-Wan’s queries about their destination as he drove off. Obi-Wan realized where they were going soon enough. Padmé’s building rose in the distance.

_Well_ , he thought to himself, _Anakin wouldn’t bring me to Padmé’s apartment to tell me that he feels nothing for me and wants me out of his life_.

But on the other hand, he couldn’t think of a reason why Anakin would take him to Padmé’s apartment of all places.

* * *

_Padmé_

Padmé watched the speeder approach, apprehension building as it got closer and closer.

Anakin hadn’t even been gone for an hour, but she’d paced circles around her apartment, drafted and then deleted upwards of two dozen work-related messages, poured herself a glass of Corellian brandy and then put it back — twice — and picked up her comm to tell Anakin not to bring back Obi-Wan. Four times.

She’d forced herself not to call, because she knew how important this was to him. It was important to her, too, but she had no idea if Obi-Wan was even interested in her at all. For all she knew, he loved Anakin and wouldn’t consider her if they were the only two beings left on a planet. Come to think of it, she was pretty sure they had been at some point. And he still hadn’t made a move on her.

If that was the case, it would hurt. She wasn’t going to be selfish and call off this conversation, but if that happened… she wasn’t sure how she would recover.

She heard the speeder land on the roof above her, and went for the brandy again. Kriff it. She was taking the edge off of her anxiety. Nothing wrong with that.

By the time Anakin and Obi-Wan walked in, the glass of brandy was half-empty. Anakin shot her a knowing look — he’d come to know her tendency to cope with stress poorly — and took the glass out of her hand, placing it down on the counter. He gestured for her and Obi-Wan to follow him into the living room, and Padmé’s hands itched to pick up her glass as she followed.

They’d talked about this. It was time.

Padmé sat down on her couch, Anakin beside her, and Obi-Wan sat down across from them when Anakin gestured for him to do so. He looked very confused, enough that Padmé felt a little bad for him.

“Well,” said Anakin. “Um. So me and Padmé wanted to talk to you about something. But first, you need to know that the two of us are—”

“In a relationship, I know,” said Obi-Wan at the same time that Anakin said, “—married.” They stared at each other for a long moment.

“Um,” said Anakin. “You… know? How long have you known?”

Obi-Wan blinked at him. “The entire Order knows that you’re sleeping together. It’s not exactly a secret that your bedroom in the Temple hasn’t been used since the war started. But… uh. Not many people have guessed that it’s an actual relationship. And you’re… married? Did I hear that right?”

Anakin nodded. Obi-Wan looked like he was on the verge of passing out.

“That’s not relevant right now, though,” Padmé interjected after giving Obi-Wan a moment to process. “What’s relevant is what you told Anakin in the cell before Ahsoka rescued you.”

Hopefully having got over his utter horror at Anakin’s marital status and looking a little calmer, Obi-Wan nodded hesitantly. “I… yes. I suspected that’s what this was about.”

“So,” Anakin said, “I didn’t get a chance to respond. And I’d like to say that I feel the same way.”

Obi-Wan blinked. Twice. His expression barely changed, but his hands, resting on his knees, tightened. It seemed like he was using all his self-restraint to not speak.

When it became clear he wasn’t going to respond, Padmé spoke up, her heart pounding hard in her chest. “The reason Anakin and I brought you here is because… well, I also feel the same way. About you, I mean. And I understand if you don’t reciprocate it, but we thought it would be a good idea to be honest.”

Obi-Wan put his head in his hands. He seemed to be using considerable effort to control his breathing. Padmé exchanged a worried look with Anakin.

Oh, Force, if they’d _broken_ Obi-Wan…

“Um? Master?” Obi-Wan flinched at Anakin’s words. “I mean... Obi-Wan. Sorry. Are you okay?”

“I’m alright,” said Obi-Wan, his voice muffled by his hands. “Just give me a moment.”

They waited almost a full minute before he finally revealed his face again. “This is… unexpected,” he said. He fiddled with the sleeve of his robe. Padmé was fairly sure she’d never seem him fidget so much. He ran his hand down his beard and took a deep breath, looking down as he spoke. “I was planning on telling Anakin this before we were rescued, but I suppose now is as good a time as any. I’ve started… questioning. The validity of the Jedi Council’s decisions during the war. The way the Code has been applied. The functionality of the Jedi Order. My time in the cell gave me plenty of time to reflect. And I’ve come to believe that… that perhaps the rule against attachment has not helped us. That maybe it has harmed us.”

He finally looked up, making eye contact with Anakin. “Which is to say, I don’t condemn you for your relationship. Your marriage.” His eyes slid over to Padmé. “And Padmé… I feel the same way.”

Relief filled Padmé, so intense she nearly let out a gasp. The tightness in her chest loosened. “I’m… I’m glad.”

“So,” said Anakin. He looked hopeful, happy even, In a way Padmé had rarely seen him look, since the war had begun. “Is this… happening?”

Instead of answering, Obi-Wan seemed to steel himself. He took a deep breath, and leaned in to kiss Anakin. It was a short kiss, but passionate enough that Padmé felt almost voyeuristic for watching.

When they broke apart, Obi-Wan turned to her.

Obi-Wan’s kiss was nothing like Anakin’s. Anakin’s kisses were fire and passion and inexpert eagerness; they spoke the truth against her mouth. Obi-Wan’s kiss was more measured, with better technique, with less wildness. It felt like the start of something.

* * *

_Anakin_

Anakin wasn’t sure what was going to happen in the future.

The war went on. Good soldiers died. Bad soldiers became reckless. Worse soldiers sent others to their deaths. The Council seemed no closer to finding Dooku or Ventress or any other major threats.

None of it was made okay by having Obi-Wan. But he made it tolerable, sometimes. When they were deployed together, they would sleep in the same bed, too small but somehow perfect, and whisper words of encouragement and hope to each other in the dark. When they weren’t, they holo-called each other, and waited until they found their way together again.

When they were at home, there was Padmé. The three of them learned about each other, together. They found out who they were together.

No, it wasn’t perfect. And the future was uncertain.

But Anakin, for once, felt happy.

Whatever happened… they would face it. Together.

**Author's Note:**

> endless thanks to my beta, as always, who helped take this piece from an utter mess to (hopefully) a fairly decent story. ily <3


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